If anything, the Philadelphia Phillies cannot afford to lose momentum. They lead the NL Wild Card race, and even one bad play can set them back, so it is understandable why concern arose when Bryce Harper’s scary moment unfolded. After all, the Phillies have seven players on the injured list. To top that, we have also seen plenty of players get injured while sliding into second base, including Shohei Ohtani in 2024. On Wednesday, Harper nearly became the latest addition to that list. But based on Don Mattingly’s update, it appears there isn’t much to worry about.

When reporters asked Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly about Bryce Harper clutching his wrist and looking uncomfortable, he said, as per David Malandra Jr. on X:

“His hand kind of got stuck. He said when he went to slide, it was pretty sticky out there… it looked like his hand got stuck, or that’s what he said that it happened.”

Bryce Harper gave the Phillies a major scare Wednesday night when, during an attempted steal of second base, Harper trapped his hand underneath his body on a head-first slide. However, he remained in the game and returned to play defense.  

Philadelphia ended up losing the game in extra innings, but Bryce Harper walking away healthy became the biggest story of the night. But the reporter’s question following his injury was not surprising at all, given Harper’s history of wrist injuries.

He spent almost all of the 2024 season playing through soreness in his right wrist, but during the 2025 season, the problem caught up with him. The pain in his right wrist worsened and developed into right wrist inflammation, which forced Harper onto the IL. At the time, Harper also said the discomfort had reached a point where he could barely play with his glove on. That makes Wednesday’s awkward slide even scarier for Phillies fans.

Once Bryce Harper described what happened, the conversation naturally shifted toward the field itself.  

Heavy rain had already delayed the scheduled first pitch by 25 minutes, and Harper later said the infield felt “pretty sticky” during the slide. His hand stuck underneath him in the wet infield, and thankfully it didn’t do much damage. That explanation revived a problem that the players have been facing due to wet fields. 

And Bryce Harper knows that better than most players.  

Back in 2017, while with the Nationals, Harper hyperextended his knee after slipping on a wet first base. He missed about 6 weeks of game time. Kris Bryant also suffered a similar injury in 2019 when he slipped on a wet first base and sprained his ankle. And that injury was so bad that it ended his 2019 season.

What is more, we have even seen managers arguing with umpires over unsafe conditions and getting ejected.

During the Pirates-Reds game, Pirates manager Don Kelly started an argument with the umpires, saying that if any player got injured, the crew would be responsible. And he was right because the officials paused the game for over 25 minutes to fix the infield dirt. Puddles formed along the foul lines, and pitchers could not get a grip on the ball. Still, there was no rain delay called.  

For a brief moment, Phillies fans had every reason to fear the worst. Harper’s reaction immediately brought back memories of his previous wrist issues, but Mattingly’s update suggested the scare was more about the playing conditions than a fresh injury.